It’s hard to believe, but the battle between The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been dragging on for almost two years. Trouble began brewing when DeSantis championed the controversial Parental Rights in Education Bill — also called the Don’t Say Gay Bill. Now-fired Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against the bill, saying Disney would work to see it overturned in the courts. That triggered DeSantis and Florida Republicans to target Disney and make them pay for what they said.
DeSantis and Disney went back and forth for more than a year before Disney had enough. In April 2023, Disney officially filed a lawsuit against the Florida governor. There were several facets to the lawsuit, but the main part was Disney’s claim that DeSantis violated its First Amendment Right to free speech. Disney also included the Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause, and the Due Process Clause because the governor voided deals made between Disney and The Reedy Creek Improvement District. These deals were made just before DeSantis’ new hand-picked board took over the area.
Back in June, DeSantis filed a motion, asking Disney to drop the contracts portion of its lawsuit, claiming that those aspects are currently being litigated at the state court level.
Now, it looks like Disney has decided to agree with him.
On September 7, Disney amended its lawsuit, dropping the portions that focused on its contract dispute. The lawsuit will now solely focus on Disney’s First Amendment claims. Per The Hollywood Reporter:
The company explained, “In order to spare the inefficiency of litigating contract validity simultaneously in two forums, Disney’s Second Amended Complaint eliminates the four contract-based counts from this action. The remaining claim—challenging the law reconstituting RCID with the Governor’s hand-picked [Central Florida Tourism Oversight District] Board of Supervisors as a retaliatory weaponization of government in violation of Disney’s First Amendment rights—can be fully adjudicated here no matter how the state court rules on Disney’s contract claims.”
The amended complaint also indicates that DeSantis has agreed to let Disney drop its contract disputes without prejudice. That means that Disney can refile the claims in federal court at a later date.
This is not the first time that Disney has amended its lawsuit against the governor, but this is the first time that it has been amended because both sides came to an agreement. Back in May, just weeks after filing the original lawsuit, Disney amended the suit, adding DeSantis’ own words to the lawsuit to help improve their claims against him.
Governor DeSantis is currently running for President of the United States, and is also promoting a book he recently wrote. At multiple events — and even in the book itself — DeSantis has admitted that he did not begin to target Disney until they spoke against the Parental Rights Bill. He has also said that he is getting rid of Disney’s “special privileges”, but admits he didn’t start doing that until Disney said something he didn’t like.
DeSantis has said that he has “moved on” and Disney should drop the lawsuit, but Disney will continue to fight for its First Amendment protections. Current Disney CEO Bob Iger has called DeSantis’ actions “plainly a matter of retaliation.”
DeSantis has frequently been called out by his critics and his fellow Republican candidates for what many consider to be a losing battle. DeSantis’ actions have cost the state of Florida Disney’s $1 billion Lake Nona project, along with the thousands of jobs and millions in taxes it would have brought it. Republicans typically consider themselves “pro-big business”, and DeSantis’ Presidential opponents say he is being anything but.
There is no court date set for the final showdown between The House of Mouse and the controversial governor, but DeSantis has asked that it be postponed until 2025, well after the presidential election.
